Thursday, 4 July 2013

Kozhikode: A team of doctors separated two-week-old conjoined twins at the Medical College Hospital here but could save only one child, hospital sources said on Thursday.

A 22-year-old woman from Malapppuram district had given birth to conjoined twins, one a normal child and the other with many anomalies at Manjeri general hospital in Malappuram district on June 21.

They were later shifted to the hospital here and after extensive consultation and investigation the surgery was carried out, Dr S Pratap, Paediatric surgeon at Kozhikode Medical College hospital, said.

The infants had their abdomen and pelvic regions joined together, a condition known in medical parlance as "omphalo ischio pagus", he said.

The normal child, a female, was saved after the surgery yesterday which lasted nearly six hours, he said.

Delaying surgery would have affected the normal child as the other one had a lot of anomalies including its heart, the doctor said.

The baby girl, which was put on ventilator yesterday, was removed from it and the infant has started opening its eyes, he said.

This is said to be the state`s first successful operation to separate conjoined twins.